The Life and Times of Alyssa Mars
by Karysa Mercury
Summary: Batman has adopted, trained, and raised several heroes in his lifetime. When The JL rescue several adolescent orphaned metahumans from a Cadmus facility, it's the others' turn. And then there's the new Robin... Background BMWW, SMLL, and GLHG. R&R please!
1. Different

_**Hello Peoples! My name's Karysa (Kara or Kay-ra for short**_) _**and this is my first JL/JLU fanfic and my first real fanfic (Not a one-shot). I'm not world's greatest writer but I do my best and I hope you enjoy! R&R! (I'll be writing character profiles on new characters in each chapter)  
**_

_Characters_

**The Inseperable Trio**

Name: Alyssa

Age: approximately 15 years old

Abilities: Telepathy; Telekinesis; Empathy; Flight.

Hair: shoulder length, coppery gold, wavy

Eyes: grey-blue, bordering on silver.

Complexion: Pale, but unmarked by sun blemishes.

Height: Slightly above average for her age.

Build: slightly broad shouldered; not athletic, underfed looking.

Colour scheme: Black, dark grey, dark blue, silver, blood red, and dark purple.

...

Name: Katelin

Age: approximately 16 years old

Abilities: Super strength; Super agility; Heightened senses (sight and hearing); Self-healing.

Hair: Black.

Eyes: Bright cerulean blue.

Complexion: Tan.

Height: Slightly below average, but it suits her.

Build: Curved, well developed. Athletic.

Colour scheme: white, blue, red, pink, purple, and orange.

...

Name: Shay

Age: somewhere in between Katelin and Alyssa, approximately 15 and a half.

Abilities: Enhanced senses (sight, hearing, taste, smell, touch, nociception, thermoception, balance, and proprioception); Enhanced agility; Enhanced endurance.

Hair: brown ringlet curls.

Eyes: Dark forest green.

Complexion: average.

Height: Actually relatively tall, but she hunches.

Build: mid-puberty, developing.

Colour scheme: brown, green, blue, black and gold.

...

...

**Chapter One: Different**

...

_Amanda Waller's Office, Somewhere In Metropolis_

"Waller."

"Batman," the woman acknowledged the masked hero with a quick nod. Batman's half covered face was set in its usual unemotional mask of stone, but inside he was seething. Clones and teenagers were one thing, one terrible thing, but _children_…

And murder. Cold blooded murder and two- or three-year-old children.

But he kept his face solid and his body as motionless as a marble statue. Telling Waller just how unimaginably inhuman she was wouldn't help anyone. It would probably just make the evil woman laugh.

"I hear you're up to your old tricks."

"I don't know what your talking about, Batman. This pathetic desk job the League arranged for me doesn't exactly make much room for 'my old tricks', as you call them," Waller replied, sounding totally convincing, with just the right amount of sarcasm and annoyance, as well as just an inkling of curiosity as to what the rumours were.

But her eyes told the real story.

And as J'onn confirmed later, so did her thoughts.

...

_Watchtower, Founders' Central Meeting Room_

All seven founders of the Justice League sat around the table in the central meeting room, every face grim, even that of the Flash. Youngest or not, he was a grown man and understood the gravity of the situation.

"So Amanda Waller is up to something. What else is new?" asked Superman, his unusually blue eyes not moving from the man opposite him. "What evidence do you have to support your theory?"

"Aside from the evidence J'onn found in Waller's mind?" asked Batman, almost sarcastically, then replied seriously, "Twelve years ago, a small special education organization contacted several orphanages and children's homes in Metropolis, Blüdhaven, Central City and Star City, asking to test all their under four year old arrivals for a special learning condition that was not very rare, but normal tests didn't identify it. About thirty children out of 600 were diagnosed and moved to a special learning facility. Except the facility address lead to nothing. It didn't exist. Neither did the organization."

"Then where did the children go?" asked Wonder Woman. Batman nodded.

"My thoughts exactly. So after not being able to find out much about either the non-existent organization or the thirty stolen children, I was advised to try a different approach. I looked up the other 570 children and hacked their files," Batman paused, perhaps for effect, or perhaps to let them digest all he had said. "Practically all meta-gene negative. And as you all know, I don't believe in coincidence. Cadmus has been revived, and they kidnapped precisely thirty one metahumans between the ages of five months and four years… Twelve years ago."

John swore, Wally gasped and Clark made some farm-boy-esque expression of horror.

Diana looked quickly to J'onn. "Did you find anything to help us in Waller's mind?"

J'onn nodded wordlessly and Batman smirked. "That's the good news," he said. "We know where they are."

John stood up. "Well what are we waiting here for? Let's get going."

"'We'?" queried Diana, who had been silently contemplating going there right now and ripping Waller's head off herself.

"We," confirmed Shayera, looking around the room with a look that dared anyone to argue with her. "This is the highest priority possible: there is no room for mistakes. Therefore, we send in the best. The Founding Seven." Her gaze rested on Diana, who sat opposite her. "Any objections?"

Silence. And then, "Well, what are we waiting for?" exclaimed Wally. "I thought we had kids to rescue?"

...

_Cadmus Facility, Somewhere Near Star City  
_

Katelin dragged herself out of the training room, dripping with sweat. Though Alyssa had once jokingly said that 'girls like her' didn't sweat, they 'glowed', whatever that meant. Girls like her? What was that supposed to mean, Kate pondered as she undressed and climbed into the shower. Alyssa often talked like this, in a way that made no sense to either Katelin or Shay. Alyssa seemed to be under the impression she could read the Keepers' minds, though of course this was ridiculous. She could see into the other Inmates' thoughts, but Katelin could break another inmate in half if she wanted to, while nothing worked on the Keepers. Most of the Inmates thought Alyssa was a nutcase, but underneath it all one could tell they accepted her; after all, she had given them the names 'Inmates' and 'Keepers' in the first place.

Katelin looked up at the stub where she had broken off the camera that used to monitor her in the shower. Yet another concept her fellow Inmate had introduced to their world: privacy. Katelin had thought it was all made up, but Mrs Waller acknowledged it as a reason to remove the cameras in the bathrooms after Alyssa had broken hers in a fit of rage.

_Think of the devil_, chimed Alyssa's voice in her head, using an expression she claimed to have picked up from the boss herself. The most ridiculous of claims supposedly came straight from the mind of Amanda Waller. Like that there was life outside the Facility. Even Shay, the most trusting of the Inmates, knew this was crazy.

_It's not, _protested Alyssa_, There's Star City and then there's America then there's the World then there's the Galaxy and then there's the Universe, which goes on forever and ever… _Katelin rolled her eyes_. If the Universe never ends then how can there be Star City and all that? _There, thought Katelin to herself, that should shut her up.

But it didn't._ No, no, you're getting it wrong! The Galaxy is part of the Universe, and the World is part of the Galaxy, and America is part of the World and Star City is part of America and The Facility is part of Star City! There, do you get it now?_

_Alyssa, I'm having a shower. Take your crazy ramblings somewhere else._

_But–_

_Get out of my head!_

Alyssa seemed offended, but Katelin felt her grudgingly withdraw from her mind. The girl sighed with relieve. Now she could have her shower in peace.

...

Alyssa pouted and walked away from the door to Katelin's room. She was bored, and sick of being called crazy. She blamed the Keepers. They knew she wasn't insane; it was just they kept information from the other inmates that they couldn't keep from her.

Being a telepath, Alyssa knew a lot more than the other Inmates. She knew the white liquid people drank was called milk, and it came from animals called cows. Ridiculous, the others scoffed. They asked her where water came from, just to spite her. She hesitated, and then admitted she didn't know, it had just always been around. And of course, this was stupid too. If water had always been around, then why should this 'milk' come from animals? They had since rejected her as a psycho, even Katelin and Shay, her closest friends. Waller had been pleased about this, the witch. She thought Alyssa was a trouble maker, though the young girl knew she reminded the woman of someone, who, in Waller's thoughts was always shrouded in shadow. Alyssa never dared investigate further into this figure, as that would make her intrusion known to the woman, which would mean punishment. Alyssa tugged unconsciously at the metal shock collar around her neck. She was the only one who had one, yet another thing to alienate her. Wonderful word, alienate. Still, she was far to familiar with its meaning.

"It's personal, myself and I, have got some figuring out to do," she sang softly. She had found this song in the mind of one of the female guards. It seemed to be her favourite. "I'm not going to miss you, like a child misses their blanket. I gotta go and get a move on with my life. It's time to be a big girl now, and big girls don't cry…"

Alyssa stopped, having felt an unusual consciousness pressing on her own. Amanda Waller. The girl ducked into a closet and pressed herself as flat against the wall as she could go, praying Waller wouldn't come this way. The telepath had seen the most hideous things in that woman's mind and every encounter between the two seemed to bring Alyssa closer to becoming a victim of one of her horrible experiments.

Suddenly, Waller's consciousness just dropped away, as if she had been teleported elsewhere. But that was impossible; all the teleporters were on the other side of the Facility. Alyssa hesitated for a second and then delved further. She realised Waller was not gone, just asleep or unconscious. And she felt seven new beings on the edge of her mind. But barely anyone new ever came to the facility, especially not in large groups…

Her thoughts were interrupted when, slowly and calmly so as not to startle her, a voice in her mind said, _Hello?_

...

Superman placed a hand on his Martian friend's shoulder as Batman tied up an unconscious Amanda Waller and locked her in a storage cupboard.

"What's wrong, J'onn?" he asked, as a look of concentration came over the Martian's face.

"I have made contact with one of the children."

The Kryptonian looked slightly taken aback. "That was quick."

"This one is very mentally prominent. She seems to be a telepath."

"Really?" asked Wonder Woman, joining in the conversation.

"Yes," replied J'onn. "That and I believe she is very close to us."

He pointed at an opening door about twenty metres away. All seven of them, including Batman, who had finished tying Waller up, watched as a figure emerged.

The girl looked about fifteen, and had coppery gold hair that fell to her shoulders. Her skin was unnaturally pale, as if she had never been outside in her life. Which, reasoned Superman, was entirely possible, knowing Waller.

But the most striking thing about the girl were her eyes. The irises were blue-grey, bordering on silver, and her pupils seemed blacker than normal. The whites of her eyes had no trace of a blood vessel, as they could see quite clearly, as her eyes were wide with fear.

"You're… Who are… What are you doing here?" she finally decided on. After a brief hesitation, Superman stepped forward.

"We are the Justice League. We came here because we discovered Cadmus was kidnapping young metagene positive children. We were informed that they were being held here."

"Please," added Diana. "Are you one of them?"

"I…" The girl paused, looking terrified. "I don't know…"

"Obviously she doesn't," growled Batman. "How long have you been here kid? All your life?"

The girl nodded. "A– as far back as I can remember… They said.. They said there was nothing else… but they thought different… the others though…"

"So you're a telepath?" asked Shayera. Then her eyes narrowed. "Are you reading our minds right now?" Then she turned to her teammates. "How do we know we can trust this kid? J'onn?"

"She is monitoring your thought patterns, but I believe she cannot restrain this ability. She has not had enough, if any training. But she is one of the kidnapped metahumans."

"That is not the question," grunted Batman, turning to the frightened telepath. "What's your name, kid?"

"Alyssa."

"Alyssa," repeated Diana. "Okay, Alyssa. We're here to shut down the Cadmus facility and free all the metahumans in this facility. All the kids. That sound good to you?"

Alyssa paused briefly to contemplate her words, and perhaps verify them. Then she nodded wordlessly, but decidedly.

"Then will you help us? We need to get all the children in this facility to the circular room down the other side of this facility, where the teleporters are. Can you use your telepathy to tell them to go there?"

"I could," said the teen shakily, "But they don't think I'm exactly sane. Because I know there's something else, outside."

"Look, Alyssa," said Clark meaningfully, "This is very important. Is there anyway you can help us?"

"Well… There is one thing that might work," she admitted hesitantly.

"Does it involve alerting Cadmus?" demanded John. She shook her head.

"No. But it does involve informing one of the other kids of your presence."

"Can we trust her?"

"That's him, and he's your best hope."

"Okay, then do it," said Batman.

Alyssa massaged her temples with her fingertips and closed her eyes. When she re—opened them they were bright silver.

J'onn cut off his mental connection with her so as not to interfere with the message she was sending, but he heard one last thought just the same.

_Your best hope. And ours._

...

_**R&R Please!**_


	2. Escape

**Hello! Thanks loads to reviewers Mourning-Star-Under-The-Moon, James631, and Lyz Shadow. This chapter isn't brilliant, but I like it the way it is. Some ooc-ness, me thinkest. But yeah, I hope you all like it anyway, and will grant this humble scribbler with a review. One last thing, Jay is named after Jay Garrick, the first Flash in normal DC continuity.**

Name: Jay

Age: approximately 13 and a half years old

Abilities: Super speed; heightened senses; energy conversion.

Hair: messy copper-blond, short-ish, hangs in his eyes

Eyes: light blue

Complexion: lightly tanned

Height: Average

Build: quite slim

Colour scheme: blue, black, red, silver, and yellow.

…

On the other side of the facility, one of the guards was reprimanding a certain Inmate for ignoring orders and trying to influence the other teens.

"Stop spreading rubbish rumours about the outside," the guard, whose name was Harriet Johns. "You know it's not true, so stop making trouble." The boy snorted.

"That's so stupid. Even if it is a wasteland out there, which I highly doubt, it'd be better than this place."

"Yeah," exclaimed a girl, who was a little older than him and had bright blue streaks in her hair ("It's my natural colour"). "This place sucks!"

The younger children were a lot more rebellious than the older ones, especially those who were friends with Jay, the boy arguing with the guard. He was known for his hyperactivity, and the time he shorted out the electricity because he didn't eat enough. The boy had super speed, and used whatever he could find to power it, from food to electric sockets. He could talk for hours and sit immobile for days. His relatively small but loyal entourage were mostly older than him, but they considered him a legend.

"Trust me, out there sucks a whole lot more than in here, kid," Johns replied, rolling her eyes. But Jay was distracted, holding his hands over his eyes to concentrate better.

_Jay?_ Queried the voice in his head, then grew impatient. _Jay! This is important!_

_I'm here, Lyssa. What's up?_ The young freedom fighter asked silently. The answer was immediate.

_Jay, this is urgent. Go to all the Inmates and tell them to gather in the teleport room. Say… say Amanda Waller said so!_

_Did she?_

_No. But she's not conscious to deny it._

_Lyssa! What did you do?_ Despite his anti-Waller stance, everyone knew what happened when you messed with the boss lady.

_Me? Nothing. But something's happened…_

_What?! Lyssa, tell me! You're my sister!...We think._

_We think_, she agreed.

_So tell me._

_I can't right now, I'm too far away, in the corridor near Shay's room._

_Why can't you come here?_

_Explain later, Jay. I've got to go now. Just tell the Inmates!_

And then she cut off the link.

_Damn_, thought Jay. His could-be sister was so cryptic sometimes. Still, she generally had a good reason behind it all.

"Guys," he said, turning to his friends as Johns walked off. "Go to the training room and get everyone to the teleporter room. Say Waller told you to. When you're done with them, start with corridor 3, door to door."

The five other metahumans looked a bit confused, but nodded. As soon as he saw this sign of understanding, he disappeared in a blur.

…

Alyssa's shoulders slumped in relief, signalling the end of her telepathic conversation. Batman, behind his mask, raised an eyebrow.

"Who'd you call?"

"Jay. He has super speed, so Waller sometimes uses him as a messenger, despite how much they hate each other."

"Friend of yours, is he?" asked Diana.

"More like a little brother. Some people think he actually is. We look alike."

"Wait," said Superman suddenly. "What's that necklace you're wearing?"

Alyssa looked up at the Man of Steel. "Shock collar. Waller doesn't like telepaths."

Wordlessly, the Kryptonian took hold of the silver ring around the girl's neck and snapped it in half.

"Now let's get going," he said, heading in the direction of the teleporter room. The others followed.

"Come," intoned J'onn, placing his hand on the younger telepath's shoulder and steering her after the heroes.

…

All thirty-eight Inmates (minus Alyssa) stood in the large circular room, around the round teleporter platform. Superman entered, followed by Batman and Wonder Woman, then Green Lantern and Flash, and finally J'onn, Alyssa, and Shayera, who seemed to have warmed to the young telepath after getting over her initial suspicion. All the children stared at them open-mouthed, except Jay, who rushed up to Alyssa.

"You didn't tell me about _this_?" he demanded. Shayera smirked.

"You _do_ look alike," she agreed. Jay looked up at her.

"Um, I don't mean to alarm you, but there's a giant bird stuck to your back," he nervously informed her. She laughed and turned around, showing him that the wings were in fact hers, not a giant bird's, while John muttered under his breath, "Good Lord, it's Wally in miniature..."

Superman floated above the teleport platform, clearing his throat to get their attention, which he inevitably already had. He addressed the crowd of metahumans.

"Hello," he said awkwardly. "I am Superman, and these are my teammates Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, J'onn J'onnz, Flash, and Shayera. When each of you were very young, you were discovered to have a metagene, which gives you special powers which normal humans do not have. The organization Cadmus kidnapped you and kept you in this facility. After discovering this, me and my teammates came to shut down Cadmus and rescue you all." Clark felt very awkward. He had no idea if these children had been trained to hate him like many other Cadmus projects had. But apparently they hadn't, because, after a moment of confusion, they broke into a cheer.

"We require your co-operation in this. If you would please get into groups of ten so you can be teleported out, we can start." After a few minutes, there were three groups of all Inmates, and one of Jay, Alyssa, seven other inmates and Flash, who had taken an immediate liking to Jay and decided to go with them.

"Once you have been teleported out, follow the previous group. Speaking of which, Flash, your group had better go first."

Flash stood on a teleportation pad, next to Alyssa and Jay. As the facility disappeared before Jay's eyes, he smiled and whispered, "Goodbye forever…"

…

The nine young metahumans along with the Scarlet Speedster emerged on the roof of the facility, which was located somewhere near Star City. There were three Javelins that had recently uncloaked and had several trusted League members in them. Wally led them confidently towards them and picked the one piloted by the Question as the next ten flashed into existence behind them.

"You lot, go with Atom," Flash told the second group, indicating one of the other Javelins. They obeyed excitedly; as you would if you were escaping the prison you had been kept your whole life. Then he hurried the first group into Question's Javelin.

These were made to carry at least fifteen people comfortably, and at least ten more when comfort was sacrificed. Alyssa sat at a window seat while Jay sat one the other side of the isle, next to Sera. Alyssa smirked at the way her brother was blushing as Sera spoke, then turned to the window.

"To think nobody noticed this lot had gone missing," mused the man up the front. Alyssa turned her head to see what he looked like, and jumped when she saw he had no face at all. He seemed to notice her shock, despite appearing to have no eyes.

"It's just a mask, kid," he said in his calm, unreadable voice. After a moment's hesitation, he added, "I'm Question."

"Alyssa," she said a little shakily. She didn't try to read his mind for fear it wouldn't be there like his face.

He paused to contemplate this. "Alyssa with one 'L' and a 'Y' or with two 'L's and an 'I'?" he asked.

"One 'L' and a 'Y'," she replied, confused. Question nodded, and turned back to the controls.

…

As the last group of metahuman teens were beamed out of the facility, Clark Turned to Batman.

"I thought you said there were thirty two," the Kryptonian said, raising an eyebrow, "I counted thirty-nine including the telepath."

"So did I," confirmed the black clad hero. "It only makes sense that some of them were clones or metahumans they discovered outside of their little 'special education' scheme."

"How do we know they haven't been brainwashed into hating us?"

"I have scanned their thoughts," said J'onn calmly. "They have not been brainwashed or truly trained for battle. This was perhaps a long term project, in which they planned to clone the most powerful but controllable ones."

"That would make sense," admitted Superman, and Batman nodded.

"Let's go," said Diana a little shakily.

"Scared, Princess?" Queried Batman. "That's not like you."

"I am merely concerned that some of the guards we subdued may wake up. And it would be best to get the children away from here as quickly as possible."

"Understood, Princess," he replied, smirking at her irritation.

And they stood on the teleporter pads and vanished.

…

"Question," came Batman's gruff voice as he walked into the Javelin. "Contact the Watchtower. Tell them to get all non-essential personnel to the Metrotower."

The faceless man nodded and sent the message through to Mr Terrific.

Jay tore his eyes away from Sera for a moment to look at the pointy eared man who sat next to the lady Superman had introduced as Wonder Woman. Watchtower? Metrotower?

He suddenly felt scared. He had no idea what was outside the facility. If the world was as big as Alyssa said it was, there were lots of things he couldn't outrun.

He felt a tap on his shoulder and saw the red clothed man called Flash standing next to him. "Hey kid, you look nervous."

Jay nodded wordlessly, but Flash seemed to guess what was on his mind. "Don't worry, kid, you'll be safe with us."

Another nod, but then, quite suddenly, Jay blurted, "What's the Watchtower?"

Flash smiled. "Well, firstly I need to know how much you know about space…"

………………..

**Yay! They're out! Next chapter: At The Watchtower… Please R&R!  
**


	3. At The Watchtower

_**Hola! Muchas gracias to the reviewers of my last chapters, goldykat, The Mystery Of A Writer, James631, Mourning Star under the Moon, and Lyz Shadow. **_**_I've been on holidays for a while and just got back, but I hope you guys like this chapter. Tell me what you think! _**

Name: Lance Knight (1)

Age: 15 years and 3 months old

Abilities: Highly skilled in martial arts, acrobatics, stealth, etc., fluent in Spanish, French, Japanese, Mandarin, German, Italian, Portuguese and Indonesian. Still In Training.

Hair: Pure black, slightly overlong and hangs in his face.

Eyes: Blue-green.

Complexion: Lightly tanned.

Height: Above average for his age.

Build: relatively slim, in a 'made-for-stealth' kind of way

Colour scheme: Black, navy blue, dark blood red, dark grey.

…

"Robin," Mr Terrific said darkly. "Didn't I just say all non-essential personnel to the Metrotower?"

The black clad teen didn't even look up. "I'm staying here."

"Who made you essential personnel?"

"The Boyscout."

Mr Terrific was so taken aback, he forgot to reprimand the young hero for using the Kryptonian's unflattering nickname. "What? Superman said you should stay?"

"That's what I said, isn't it?" Robin replied in the familiar monotone. Unlike his predecessors, the current Boy Wonder was neither over-enthusiastic nor drawn to fights. His personality was very reminiscent of Batman's own: dark, brooding, and patient. Still, it annoyed Terrific to no end. "You want to check on the database?" he added, sensing the older hero's temper growing shorter by the minute.

Wordlessly, Terrific pressed a few keys on the computer. The screen showed the expected results: requested presence by four of the Founding Seven, including Superman. Taking another look at the boy, he contemplated what he saw. The truth was, people could tell very little about Robin from looking at him. He was neither totally impassive nor the slightest bit emotional. His eyes were covered by white lenses like his mentor's, but there was a rumour among the younger Leaguers that his eyes told you everything and nothing at the same time.

You didn't need to be a man as smart as Terrific to know that there was something different about this new Robin. Something… special.

Terrific turned away as the computer signalled Javelins V and VI were docking. Question's voice came through the intercom.

"Mr Terrific, this is Javelin V. Permission to land?"

"Access code?"

"Five-Cobalt-Seven-Omicron-Twelve-Eighteen-Quartz."

"Permission granted. Preparing docking bay five." Terrific turned around to check on Robin, but he was already gone.

…

On the trip, Batman had found out the names and powers of each of the thirteen young metahumans aboard Javelin V, not because he wanted to socialise but for security reasons. He was also trying to sniff out the clones and aliens from the normal metahumans. Well, as normal as metahumans can be, anyway.

He had come across a fascinating development with a pair of identical twins with different powers. And he decided to look into the theory that the telepath, Alyssa, and Flash-in-miniature Jay were siblings. It would aid him in figuring out who was who, as the children's homes did not have DNA records of the metas.

The empty seat next to Alyssa had been filled by none other than Katelin.

"I'm sorry," was the first thing she had said as she sat down. "I didn't know the things you knew."

Alyssa had quickly forgiven her and Kate had struck up conversation with Wonder Woman, whose real name turned out to be Diana. Diana explained how they found them to Katelin, but Alyssa wasn't really listening. Her attention was focused on the dark, cloaked figure known as Batman. Where had she seen him before…

Her thoughts were interrupted when the faceless man ("Question," she reminded herself) began to talk again. It creeped her out, a voice with no mouth.

"Mr Terrific, this is Javelin Five. Permission to land?"

"Access code?" came a voice from the speaker.

The access code was spoken in a low voice and was so long that Alyssa lost track of it. But it must have been the right one as a large slab of metal on the side of the "Watchtower" slid back and the man (well, it sounded like a man) on the end of the line said, "Permission granted. Preparing docking bay five."

The ship slid forward into the hole in the Watchtower and the huge metal door closed behind them.

…

Thirty-nine metahumans sat in the Watchtower assembly hall, where seminars on various aspects of the hero business were held. J'onn was explaining life, the universe and everything to them as a shadow watched from the back of the hall. Another shadow crept up behind it and whispered in its ear.

"Robin."

"Batman."

"We need to talk. Somewhere private."

Minutes later, the current Boy Wonder and the Dark Knight arrived at the latter's League quarters. Upon entering, the older hero walked straight up to the computer and inserted a disc. Robin stood by the closed door as his mentor typed. After about a minute of nothing but the sound of the caped hero's fingers against the computer keys, he stopped typing and a series of papers emerged from the printer. Handing them to the younger hero, Batman addressed his apprentice.

"There were thirty-nine metahumans in that facility. It stands to reason that some of them are clones or aliens. Or both."

"So you want me to figure out which ones they are?" Batman nodded.

"This is all we know about the metahumans we have in the Watchtower right now and the children who were taken in the special education scam. Also, I have some files off the Cadmus computers before they self-destructed. Use them to help you. If you find anything out of ordinary, call me."

Robin raised an eyebrow. "Call you? Where are you going?"

"Nowhere, for the moment," the Dark Knight said mysteriously, handing him a teleporter pass. "But you are. I want you to go back to the manor to handle this. Check on your sister. Alfred and a broken arm can only keep her quiet for so long.(2)"

Robin looked a bit unsure, but nodded anyway and, placing the files in an empty folder off his desk, walked out the door, his mentor close behind.

…

J'onn sat opposite the silver eyed telepath looking ever calm and collected. Alyssa herself was fidgeting. She had passed out in the assembly hall, and the Martian believed it was because her untrained telepathy let to many consciousnesses enter her own. It was enough pressure, J'onn had pointed out, to make a god collapse. He had decided to put up mental blocks to narrow the beam of her telepathy, so she wouldn't hear the thoughts of everyone who passed by. It wouldn't hurt, he assured.

She was still nervous.

"Just try to stay calm," instructed the founding Leaguer, placing his hands on each of her temples. She closed her eyes as if preparing herself for an impact. None came. J'onn was being extremely careful not to hurt her. Slowly, she felt streams of information feeding into her mind, the flow growing stronger by the second. She cradled her head in her hands. It was literally all too much.

About a minute later, it was over, and walls built up around her mind, focusing her telepathy. When she opened her eyes, she found she had curled into a ball on the medical bed and J'onn was sitting exactly where he was before. Righting herself, she looked at him.

"You didn't just strengthen my mental walls, did you?"

"No. What I did is colloquially called a "Five Minute English Lesson". It consists of transferring a large amount of information, such as a language, from one mind to another. In your case, I supplied your brain with all the information about regular human life that your capture by Cadmus made you miss out on. I didn't tell you I would do it because knowledge often gets rejected if the patient is aware of the process."

"O…kay…" the younger telepath said faintly, already exploring the new information made available to her.

"I had to use the procedure on you first, as you were the most likely to find out and unknowingly put up mental blocks."

"Uh…huh…" In Alyssa's defence, most people are out of it for hours when a large amount of information is transferred into their mind. Compared to others, she was taking it quite well.

"Rest here until you feel better," commanded J'onn, knowing he wouldn't get much sense out of her for a while. "And don't tell the others."

"Sure…" he helped her to a med-bay bed and she was asleep in minutes while her brain sifted through the new information, putting it all in its proper place.

J'onn put a hand up to his communicator. "Lantern, this is J'onn. Could you send in Jay, please?"

…

_Tap, tap, tap…_

He paused for a minute to read the file, and then continued typing.

"You are getting so like Bruce, it's scary. You know that, Lance?"

Lance swung around and was tackled by his twelve-year-old sister, who he was pretty sure could give Wally a run for his money in hyperactivity. He hugged her back, being careful not to damage her cast-covered right arm. Millie was extremely impatient, a trait she had initially shared with Lance and kept when he grew out of it. She was getting the cast off in a week and both Lance and Bruce knew enough about fate that if they weren't careful she'd break it again between then and now.

"I wouldn't have to be if you'd help. Or stop bugging me. Whichever suits you."

She considered it for a second, then chirped brightly, "I'll help! What did Bats tell you to do?"

Lance smiled laughingly. Millie's eyes narrowed. "What?"

"Just you calling him Bats."

"What's so funny about that? Everyone calls him that."

"Behind his back, maybe. But no one to his face. Except Flash, and he's the fastest man alive."

"Oh, shut up. What're we doing, anyway?"

Using a voice a little lower than his regular one, Lance relayed the story and Batman's orders to his sister. When he was done she raised an eyebrow. "Why didn't you stay at the Watchtower?"

"I came to stop you blowing the whole house up."

"Do you want my help or not?"

Instead of replying, he hit a few more keys on the Batcomputer's massive keyboard. Three lists popped up side by side.

"On the left are the metahumans who were found at the facility. The names are just random ones they gave themselves, so that's pretty inconclusive, but click on a name and you get their profile, which is constantly updated by the Watchtower. In the middle you have the names and profiles of the children at the orphanages. On the far right are the files that Bruce got off the Cadmus computers. Their names are just random numbers, which I'd dearly like to know the meaning of. Got all that?"

"Yep. Any progress?"

"Not much. I was just starting when you came in."

"Excuses, excuses," his sister scolded, swinging into Barbara's disused chair (she'd been at college for the last year or so) and looking up at the screen. "Might as well start with the first file, shall we?" she asked, clicking the top file on the far left. "Alright, Alyssa, telekinetic and telepath, approximately fifteen, pretty average height, doesn't matter… Whoa, that's way underweight. Anyways, silvery blue eyes, copper-gold wavy hair, naturally pale skin," Millie paused to look at the 3D photo in the corner of the screen. "Doesn't really do her justice, does it?" she asked her brother casually, enlarging the picture so he could see. Lance looked up, and Millie was surprised to hear a sharp intake of breath.

Lance studied the face quietly, pausing the gentle rotation of the 3D image to do so. How they could call her skin naturally pale was beyond him. It looked translucent, with a hint of blue, or perhaps greyish silver beneath the surface. The orangey gold of her hair was in stark contrast, falling in loose waves to her shoulders, which were covered by the top of her black fitted T-shirt. Her gentle features were set in a sharp scowl and her half open mouth revealed teeth just a fraction sharper than any human's should naturally be. Silver glinted behind her blue eyes like a shark fin underwater.

Whatever she looked like, it wasn't human.

"Jesus, she's creepy," Lance muttered, minimizing the picture. Out loud he said, "Five bucks says that girl's an alien, or something Cadmus came up with."

"I doubt it. For one thing, she has a brother with completely different powers from her," Millie replied pointedly, clicking on a link and opening another profile. "You shouldn't always judge people by their looks. You could probably find perfectly normal humans who look weirder than that, you know."

Lance laughed. "Where am I looking for these perfectly normal people? Arkham?"

Millie smirked, and her dark eyes shone a mischievous green. "I'd start in the mirror, if I were you."

"The only reason you're not in serious pain right now is that in the long run, your arm healing is good for me."

"Or that you're scared I'll hit you with my cast."

"Shut up, Millie."

…

_**(1) Lance and his sister Millie were kidnapped and held hostage with others when they were five and two. Batman rescued the hostages and so the people at the orphanage gave them the last name "Knight" after the Dark Knight.**_

_**(2) Millie's arm was broken in the rescue operation that resulted from Lance's first voluntary meeting with Batman.**_

…

_**I hope you liked the intro of the new Robin. He's a lot like Bruce, but there are lots of differences :-). As for the second part, with the lists, just another outlook on what Alyssa looks like. And for those who are wondering why the first name just happened to be her, it's in alphabetical order, and none of the others have names beginning with A. I'll put Millie's profile in somewhere in the next few chapters.**_

_**If I haven't mentioned this before, this is set about seven, eight years after Starcrossed.  
**_

_**Next chapter: Hyperactivity in deep space, among other things (such as exploding toasters and older sisters trying to sleep)… Please R&R!**_


	4. The New Girl

_**It's been a while, but here's chapter 4. I sort of wrote it in blocks so it may get a bit confusing/weird. I also realised that in thelast chapter I messed up something about Alyssa's age. I'll just go change it, please note she's still around fifteen. Thanks to anyone who reviewed, Please R&R!**_

...

Name: Skye Olsen

Age: 15 and eight months.

Abilities: Highly intelligent, Expert computer technician, competent in martial arts.

Hair: barely shoulder length, straight, blonde

Eyes: Pale green

Complexion: Average, with a few freckles

Height: average

Build: average, slightly skinny

Colour scheme: pale blue, silver, white, pale green, turquoise, aqua

...

_Approximately 1 Week Later_

"… And I am complete agreement with you that this is a horrendous offence, and I assure you the United States government had absolutely nothing to do with this," blathered on some government official who had been sent to speak to the Founders after the discovery of the facility had been reported. "But no matter what it still stands that these children, metahumans or not, must have legal guardians or they will be returned to the custody of the Government. It's the law, and if metahumans and humans are going to live as equals, the law must be obeyed."

"Why can't one of us be their guardian?" asked Superman. "These aren't ordinary children, even for metahumans, and due to their unusual upbringing they are highly impressionable and if–"

"I highly doubt any of you have enough time on your hands to be an efficient guardian, and you'd need to have an individual guardian for each child. And, as citizens of Earth, they must be raised there, preferably in their country of origin, which in this case appears to be the United States. They must spend at least four months there for every year." The official stood up. "You have two weeks. Now, if you'll excuse me." He left the Justice League Founders sitting in silence.

After a few minutes, Superman asked, "Well, what are we going to do?"

The Flash raised an eyebrow, though you couldn't really tell through his mask. "We adopt get members of the League and allies who we trust to adopt them, and train them during the daytime."

"We can't do that. If a member of the League adopts one of them, the government will know our secret identities."

Batman shook his head. "No, they won't. You just introduce your real identity as a responsible civilian who you know and trust."

"'You'?" asked John Stewart. "And you're just going to skip out on this whole scheme, are you, Batman?"

The Dark Knight glared at the man from Detroit. "I already have responsibility towards Robin and his sister. And I wouldn't be able to offer a metahuman any useful advice on coping with their powers."

"Alright, Batman, you're off the hook," The Kryptonian said, sighing. "Flash, can you mentor one of our young recruits?"

"Have you seen where he lives?" demanded John. Wally smirked.

"I got a raise and moved out, John. I live in Keystone City now."

"And can you mentor one of the metahumans?"

Wally paused in thought for a moment, them answered, "I could mentor Jay on the whole speedster thing. The problem is that, like me, Jay probably has an advanced metabolism, and I don't earn enough to feed both of us."

"Actually," J'onn intoned calmly, "Jay is an energy converter, and he can absorb enough energy to fuel his powers from the sun's radiation. As a result, he eats slightly less than an average boy of his age and size."

Wally looked relieved. "Wow, that's cool. In that case, I just happen to know this guy called Wally who'd be a responsible guardian…"

…

Jay was hungry. He had discovered in the last few days how to appease his constant hunger: just stand in front of a window facing the sun. He tried not to stick his fingers in electric sockets, because draining the Watchtower's power grid would not make him very popular with the League.

Still, he liked to eat sometimes. So he decided to make some toast in the Justice League kitchen.

Stargirl was also there, flirting with some guy dressed mainly in black that people addressed as Robin. This, he was assured, was not the original Stargirl, who was now Starwoman or something like that. This was the great niece or whatever of Starman, whoever that was, who had somehow acquired the powers of Stargirl (or Starman, Jay didn't know which) in her body, and didn't rely on a 'cosmic staff' to maintain her powers.

Jay didn't particularly care about any of this. Her knew one thing about Stargirl and that was what was bugging him right then: she was the most annoying individual on the Watchtower, and possibly the stupidest to ever walk on the face of the earth.

"Hey _Robin_, how's Gotham these days?"

"The usual."

"What's the usual, _Robin_?"

"Grim."

"So _Robin_..." She had a way of rolling her 'r's which made Jay want to throttle her. "Do you like being in the League?"

"I'm not. Batman is a part-timer and I'm just giving the League a hand."

"Really _Robin_…" Jay began to grind his teeth in frustration. God the sound of that girl's voice was annoying.

Lance, though Jay didn't know it, completely agreed with him. Stargirl might have been okay if not for the fact that every single time they spoke she flirted incessantly with him. He noticed the young metahuman was looking frustrated. Wait a second, wasn't he the one with Superspeed, the kid who could convert energy…

Ten minutes later, a very irritated and tired looking Alyssa was dragged into the med-bay, where Jay, Robin, and Stargirl were recovering.

"You blew up the toaster, didn't you?"

"Um… well, it kind of, like... I didn't mean to! But it was just so annoying…" Jay trailed off, not wanting to offend Stargirl, or get in a fight with tall, dark and scary over there, who might be her boyfriend for all he knew.

"I'm not even going to ask," she responded wearily, holding her head in her hands. Lance looked on, fascinated. After seeing that picture of her, he thought the girl known only as Alyssa would be menacing and silent. The strangely human way in which she acted fascinated him. Her silver eyes were unfocused and dark blue shadows under her them appeared to be her version of bags. She had been trying to sleep when the explosion woke her, along the rest of the Justice League in the Watchtower. This seemingly random accident was apparently very familiar to her.

Lance winced as he moved the wrong way. He had only just had a shard of toaster metal removed from in between two of his ribs.

Strangely, he saw Alyssa cringe in pain as he felt it. Her eyes darted to his injury for a second and then returned to her brother. Unrestrained empathy to nociception, he thought to himself. I wonder if Batman knows about that.

The fifteen year old froze and all the blue drained from her eyes, leaving them shining silver. Jay looked up at his sister, worried. Her lips moved in silence, until suddenly she snapped back to reality.

"I've got to go," she said quickly, ruffling his messy hair. "Don't blow anything else up while I'm gone." Then she raced out the door, heading for the monitor room.

J'onn was waiting for her, with Batman. A girl a little older than Alyssa stood shyly beside them, overwhelmed by the enormity of the Watchtower.

The first time she saw her, the girl reminded Alyssa of Katelin, though only seconds later she realised it was probably how different they were that triggered it. Katelin's glossy black locks hung close to her waist, while this girl was blonde and her hair barely made it to her shoulders. Katelin chattered to fill the silence, but the girl was quiet without protest. But, most significantly, Katelin was always content with what she knew, but Alyssa sensed a burning curiosity behind this teen's pale green eyes.

"What's up?" she asked Batman, while J'onn was busy talking to the girl. He scowled.

"Well, firstly, what did your brother explode this time?" Alyssa smirked. Jay had been driving the Dark Knight up the wall since they first came to the Watchtower.

"I couldn't really tell from the remains, but he claims it was a toaster."

"Was anyone injured?"

"Well, him, Robin, and Stargirl were hurt a little, but other than that, everything's fine."

"How long will they sustain their injuries?"

"Jay heals faster than most, so he'll be fine; Robin didn't get hurt too badly, so he'll be back by tomorrow, if not tonight; and Stargirl… Well, she might be out of action for a few days, but…" Alyssa trailed off. She always had to bite her tongue to keep from saying Stargirl was useless, because despite the fact she totally was, she had been in the League for a lot longer than Alyssa, and it wasn't a good idea to insult her.

"But…?" inquired Batman, raising an eyebrow.

"But after that nothing reoccurring. She'll be fine," The telepath improvised quickly. Batman smirked knowingly, but said nothing.

"Alyssa," came J'onn's cool, soothing voice. "This is Skye Olsen. She'll be staying at the Watchtower for a while. Could you please show her around?"

Alyssa, being a telepath, basically had a map of the Watchtower imprinted on her mind. It had, apparently, been expanded so it could fit all the heroes' families if they were ever targeted. Good thing too, because the ex-Inmates took up most of the bottom floor.

"Sure. Have you decided where her room is?"

"We decided to leave that to her, mainly," Batman grunted. "Show her the rooms on the second floor, and when she decides on one, send us the number and we'll note it in the files. Then show her the rest of the Watchtower. Except anywhere where _you know who_ is. Avoid those places until he's left."

"Voldemort?" asked Skye, speaking for the first time, with a razor sharp edge of cynicism to her voice. Alyssa rolled her eyes.

"You think _Batman_ makes references to Harry Potter?" she countered. Sarcasm was her newest joy in life. "I've only been in contact with humanity for a week and I know that's a strange idea."

"You also know about Harry Potter. Doesn't that strike anyone as a bit weird?" Skye retorted quickly.

"I'm a _telepath_. _Duh_."

The other teenager scowled. "Whatever. Anyway, if he's not talking about the Lord of the Dark Arts, just who is he talking about?"

"My brother."

"What, is he like, a paedophile or something?"

"Let me rephrase that: my _little_ brother. And no, he's just a notorious toaster blower upper."

For probably the first time in her life, Skye Olsen shut up, in the middle of an argument, of her own accord, though her facial expression clearly had something to say, along the lines of,  
"What the…?"

"Shouldn't you be on the second floor?" glared Batman. Skye glared right back at him, while Alyssa rolled her eyes.

"Sorry, unlike Jay I don't have Superspeed."

"Who's Jay? The Flash?" Skye asked, interrupting Batman's response, which is possibly the least intelligent thing anyone can do.

Alyssa shook her head. "Nope. My brother."

"Just how many brothers do you _have_?"

"Only one. He's just multitalented."

…

"All the rooms are basically the same, except the ones in the outside circle have windows, which you have to close when you go to bed, because the sun's almost always peeking in from somewhere," Alyssa explained as she and Skye finally arrived at the second floor after getting kicked out of the monitor room by Batman. "But the real problem is who has the rooms above and below you. There are forty rooms on each floor on the first four levels of the Watchtower, above that it gets wider. The third floor is empty, so that's basically a lucky dip for later on, depends on how long you'll be here."

"A while."

"Okay then, you won't be able to choose who sleeps above you, but I know basically all the people on the first floor, and trust me, you need to get a room above the right type."

"Why? Aren't the rooms soundproofed?"

"Obviously. But if you've got a kid with rather… destructive powers in the room below you, they're more than likely to blow a hole in your floor at some point."

The blonde considered this statement quickly, and decided to take the telepath's advice. Maybe they hadn't got off on the right foot, exactly, but Alyssa didn't seem the type to lie and give her the room above some crazy as revenge for a simple argument.

"So…who's least likely to destroy their roof?" she asked. Alyssa pondered for a second, then quickly explained.

"Sera and Julia don't use their powers a lot, but there are exceptions, so you'd be safest above Shay, if you don't mind a window."

"Sure, but who's Shay, and _don't_ say your brother."

"Shay's a girl."

"Or your sister. Whatever."

"She's a friend of mine, but her powers are enhanced senses and stealth. She doesn't blow things up, as a rule. ...You don't snore, do you?"

"No. Why?"

"Because she'll hear you if you do. She says it stops her sleeping."

"Well, I know for a fact I don't snore, so that should be fine."

"Okay then," the telepath replied, leading her to a door marked 219. "Welcome to your new home," she said, opening the door. The bright ball of fire known as the sun shone through the window, sending an orange glow across the room. Skye stared in amazement at the effect as Alyssa busied herself registering her as the new occupant of the room.

"Wow," Skye remarked to her only half-listening companion. "I wish I had some stuff to put up in here… Are we allowed to do that? You know, decorate?"

Alyssa shrugged, ducking her head to hide the fact she was blushing. Decorating was something that confused her. It was basically a statement about who the person who lived in the room was, but, while Alyssa would never admit it to anyone, she wasn't exactly sure _who_ she was. She didn't have a favourite colour, or song, because she'd never heard any except in people's heads, or TV show because she'd never seen one. She was sure if she was shy, or extroverted, or easily annoyed, or antisocial, because it almost always depended on whose thoughts she'd been exposed to recently. She wondered if this was because of her upbringing, or being a telepath, or both. Or maybe she was just born like that. In any case, talking about things like that made her nervous.

"Oh well," continued Skye in one-sided conversation. "I'll ask J'onn; he seems nice, in a monotonous kind of way."

"Uh huh. Can you wait ten minutes? I need to go find someone to show you around."

"I thought Batman gave _you_ that job?" she retorted, suspicious that the telepath was trying to get out of her jobs. Not that Skye really cared about skipping out on chores; it just made her feel bad to know the other girl was trying to avoid her.

"Oh, I'm coming alright. Someone's got to make sure you don't walk out an airlock. I'm just getting someone who can introduce you to everyone."

"Okay then, sure," the older girl replied. The young telepath quickly left the room, found the stairwell and went down, coming out on the first floor. She went to the left and came to the third outside room. She punched in the code and entered without knocking.

Katelin was sitting up on her bed, looking irritated. "I heard you coming."

"I know. I need a favour I can almost guarantee you I'm not going to return, but I can get you conscripted into it if you like."

"I heard, Alyssa."

"I know," the telepath replied, grinning.

"I hate you sometimes."

...

_**Ah, the joys of torturing Katelin. The new Stargirl's not really useless, she just has a major major major crush on Robin. She'll get over it. More about her in the next chapter, and other characters I've just randomly decided to make join the League****, both OCs and copirighted ones alike. Basically the next few chapters will consist of semi-normal settling in stuff before I start the first real story arc. Next time: Tour of the 'Tower**_

_**Please Review!  
**_


	5. Die, Stargirl, Die!

_**Dun Dun Dun! To all those who read that bit I wrote about how the next few chapters would just be fun, normal stuff... Well, I'm evil, so I decided to get on with it and launch right into the first story arc! Well, in this chapter, Skye meets Stargirl, and, despite Batman's very clear warning, Jay; Katelin gets revenge; one week in and Alyssa and Shay already know how to play scissors paper rock; and the first story arc begins! Thanks massively to anyone who reviewed! Please R&R!**_

* * *

"Skye, I presume?" Shay asked as she entered the room, raising an eyebrow.

"Hey Shay," Katelin said happily. She was dreading spending an hour or so with a complete stranger while not speaking to Alyssa, who had gotten her into this situation in the first place.

"I thought you were asleep?" queried Alyssa, though she seemed pleased to see Shay as well.

"I was. You woke me."

Skye blushed. "Sorry. I didn't mean to be loud." The girl gritted her teeth in frustration. _Geez, Skye, one hour in and your already making enemies._

But Shay shook her head. "Not you. Them," she clarified, glaring at her friends. Alyssa made an innocent face and Katelin gently (well, for her) smacked her upside the head.

"All Lyssa's fault," the super strong teen declared. "Blame the telepath!"

"I'll decide who to blame for myself, thankyou very much," Shay said, grinning. Turning to Skye, she added, "Now didn't you need a tour?"

…

Half an hour later, the four girls arrived at the med-bay. Despite the fact the tour guides outnumbered the people they were leading, the tour had gone well. Alyssa had navigated, Katelin had introduced people, and Shay maintained sanity in the conversation.

Now Alyssa was preparing to ignore a direct order from Batman. She was going to introduce Skye to Jay.

If she had to suffer the plight of an insane little brother, so did everybody else.

"Thank God!" Stargirl exclaimed as they walked in. "Someone sane to talk to! Who's the new girl?" she added curiously.

"This is Skye Olsen. Skye, this is Stargirl, the second."

"Call me Star. So, why are you here?"

This seemed like an uncomfortable question for Skye. After a few seconds awkward silence, she answered, trying to seem casual, "Justice League technician."

"Aren't you a little, like, young for that?" queried Stargirl. The green-eyed teen blushed lightly in response and shrugged.

"I'm good with computers," she mumbled.

"Who'sthenewgirl?" demanded Jay, who was feeling left out. His entire left side was bandaged, and even though he was healing extremely fast the doctors refused to let him leave the med-bay. And with no one to talk to but Stargirl, because Robin had left a while back, he was getting seriously bored.

"Uh," Skye said, trying to decipher his question. "I'm Skye. And you are?"

"My name's Jay," the thirteen-year-old introduced himself enthusiastically. Skye shook his outstretched hand nervously and shot Alyssa a confused look. The telepath grinned evilly and mouthed, _the very same_.

Her younger brother raised an eyebrow. "'Lyssa…"

"Yes?"

"What did you do?"

"…Nothing…"

Skye rolled her eyes. "Maybe we should leave before Batman finds out you ignored his warning."

"What warning?" asked Jay.

"Warning? I don't recall any warning."

"The one about not letting me meet Jay on pain of death and/or Batglare."

"Oh, that warning…"

"Stargirl?" asked one of the med-bay staff, walking in. "You're free to go, just avoid strenuous physical activity for a few days." He looked to the other girls. "Could you keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn't go off fighting monsters for a while for me? Thanks."

"Does shopping and stuff count as strenuous activity?" asked Star. The nurse shook his head.

"Just don't do the whole 'shop till you drop thing'. You won't be getting up for a while."

"Why did you ask about shopping, of all things?" asked Skye. Stargirl grinned.

"Well, I was thinking–

"No way."

"Alyssa! You hadn't even heard her out!"

"I can sense what she's thinking, and the answer is no!"

"Why not?" asked Skye, knowing only one thing could be what they were talking about. "Shopping's fun, and you guys need clothes other than your League uniforms."

"Come on, you two," said Katelin, pointedly grabbing Shay and Alyssa's wrists to stop them running away.

"The only problem with your plan is the fact we don't exactly have any money," pointed out Shay, trying to extract her arm from Katelin's titanium grip.

"Yeah you do. You got cards for buying clothes and stuff, the whole government compensation thing," Stargirl replied pointedly. "So we're all agreed: we're going shopping."

"Jay, help?" pleaded Alyssa, who wasn't allowed to use her telekinesis on her fellow Leaguers.

"I'm not allowed to use my speed until I'm properly healed."

"No, you're just enjoying this," Alyssa deducted as she was dragged away by Skye and Katelin.

Jay smiled. "Maybe just a little…"

…

"I still cannot believe you guys have never been a mall."

Shay rolled her eyes and Alyssa groaned. They exchanged looks. "I reckon we are the sanest people present."

"Damn straight."

The three ex-Inmates had borrowed clothes from Stargirl and Skye, as their standard issue Justice League uniforms would attract attention. Luckily, Star had more clothes than the rest of the League combined and Skye had reasonable fashion sense. So there the five stood, outside the biggest mall in Metropolis.

"This is gonna be so cool!" exclaimed a civilian clothed Stargirl. Katelin smiled, and Skye grinned evilly as she watched Shay and Alyssa groan. Shay looked a little ill. Alyssa massaged her temples, fighting off the inevitable headache she got around large groups of people. This was going to be a long day.

Now Skye and Star were fighting over which store to go to first. Katelin broke up the fight, much to Shay's disappointment, for she wanted to put off the whole shopping thing as long as possible.

"How about we split up? I'll go with Star and Skye can take Shay and Alyssa," the super strong teen suggested. Stargirl nodded in agreement, but Skye objected loudly.

"Nah uh. You guys cannot just dump both grumpy and grumpier on me. At least one of them has to go with you guys." She turned to the two miserable teens. "So, which one of you is going with Star?"

Wordlessly, they turned to face each other and did a quick game of scissors paper rock. Shay sighed and went over to stand next to Katelin and Star.

"Brilliant," exclaimed the civilian clothed heroine, grabbing her comrades by their wrists and dragging them off into the mall. Skye looked at Alyssa, who had a smug look on her face as she watched Shay be dragged off.

"So, who won?" she asked, referring to the scissors paper rock match. Alyssa grinned evilly.

"Who do you think?"

…

"Nice choice. Red and black definitely look good on you. Off-sets the silver a bit, in a nice way," Skye observed as Alyssa emerged from the dressing room with a long black coat and a blood red shirt she had picked out. Between them, they already had two bags full of jeans and three of shirts, dark, brooding colours for Alyssa, and rather lighter, calmer tones of blue and green for Skye. Alyssa had also had the less-than-enjoyable task of buying underwear for the first time, but after that was over and done with she actually started to enjoy shopping. Skye was relatively interesting to talk to, though she did ask about the boy ex-Inmates a bit.

How can you not be interested in them?" the technician asked as they left the store after paying. "Some of them are so hot! And they have abs…"

"I don't even want to know how you know that," grinned Alyssa. Then she answered the question. "I've known the guys since we were all like, two. I suppose I'm aware that some of them are, you know, hot, but I guess it's hard to feel attracted to someone if you can remember them when they were chewing on crayons."

Skye laughed then asked, "They actually gave you crayons in that place?" Alyssa shook her head, grinning.

"They had some in a forbidden storage cupboard. We stole them and drew on all the walls."

"We? Who was in on it?"

"All of us. I found out where it was and some of the stronger kids took the door down… we were pretty set on finding those crayons. Waller found out and tried to kill me."

"Seriously? She actually attacked you?"

"Yeah, but I threw her into a wall and she broke her leg. That's why they put me on drugs to prevent me using my telekinesis. And a shock collar to stop me reading their minds too much."

"You're telekinetic?" Skye asked, alarmed. She didn't know a lot about what happened to the Inmates but Alyssa's story was grimmer than most. "Did…did they keep you on the drugs for long?" she asked tentatively. Alyssa sighed, eyes downcast.

"Yeah," she admitted. "My whole life basically. I'm only just getting the hang of it back, to tell you the truth. J'onn – you know, the Martian – well, he's trying to help me but he doesn't have telekinesis himself so there's a limit to what he can teach me, you know?"

Skye nodded. Her past hadn't exactly been Wonderland either, but she didn't need to tell the telepath that: the kid already knew. Alyssa didn't need to probe her brain to sense the shadow of her past which hung over her, any more than Skye needed to take more than one look in the metahuman's haunted silver eyes to know she was a long way from healed.

"Hey," Skye said suddenly. "It's Shay and Stargirl."

Alyssa looked where the other girl was pointing and saw the other two looking through a rack of clothes. "Where's Katelin?" she asked as they walked up.

"Oh hey, it's you guys," said Star, looking up. "Katelin got a call from the Watchtower, for a training session or something."

Skye nodded. Shay gave Alyssa a funny look.

"Lyss? You okay?" The other two turned to look at their telepathic friend. She stood frozen and her skin had turned a more prominent shade of silver.

Skye shook her gently. "Alyssa?" she said quietly. "Earth to Alyssa, are you okay?"

"It's…it's nothing. I'm fine. Everything's…fine…"

"Did you get some sort of psychic jolt or something? Some of the telepaths got that when that Brainiac clone was found."

"Yeah…I think so…" Alyssa looked distant. Skye however turned to Star.

"You mean that Brainiac clone might be here? _In a shopping mall_?"

"I don't know! I just thought that's what it seemed like, is all."

Skye fidgeted. "Wasn't the Brainiac clone downloaded into a human body and sent into the sun?"

"Yeah. It can't be here…"

"Uh, you two?" Shay inquired, prodding them. "I can hear something going on in the car park…" she pointed. "Is that where it's coming from, Lyss?" The telepath nodded wordlessly. Shay turned back to the others. "I think we should check this out."

The other two reluctantly agreed. They quickly walked into the dimply lit car park. It was the oldest of the building, and wasn't very popular. A smattering of cars were parked all around Shay heard a muffled scream.

"Hello?" called Stargirl. "Is everyone okay?...Ow! What the…"

The heroine collapsed to the ground, eyes rolling back into her head. A split second later, Skye, and Shay, who tried to dodge but was blocked by Stargirl's unconscious body, fell to the ground too.

Alyssa was last. She felt the tip of the dart enter her neck, and sedative fluid enter her blood system. In a last attempt to at least do something, she searched the mental plane for their attacker. She sensed some vague consciousnesses, but then her system succumbed to the tranquilliser and she sunk into a dreamless sleep.

…

Alyssa woke with a pounding head. She felt weak. She tried her telepathy but all she got were a few blurry, unfocused thoughts. She didn't even bother attempting telekinesis.

All around her was darkness. She sat up and reached upwards, her hands touching the ceiling easily.

"Alyssa? That you?" Skye's voice sliced through the silence.

"Yeah. How're Shay and Stargirl?"

"I'm fine," came Shay's calm voice, "But Star's out cold."

"Oh joy," retorted Alyssa, massaging her temples. After a few seconds of silence, she added a bit more hesitantly, "Uh, guys? You know the girl who was being attacked?"

"What about her?"

"She wasn't exactly human."

"In what way? Robot, or metahuman, or alien, what?"

"Well, if she were a robot she wouldn't have a consciousness, and she's not a metahuman, so I'd say alien's your best bet."

"So what do these guys want with an alien? Can you tell?"

"Argh, Skye!"

"What?"

"My powers are weakened, and I don't have a hope of reading their minds if you keep singing Avril Lavigne in your head!"

"Okay, okay, I'll try to stop. It's just stuck in my head, that's all."

Silence. And then, "They're working for someone. I'm trying to get a name… Oh crap."

"Alyssa? Who is it? Who are they working for?"

"…Lex Luthor."

"What?!"

* * *

_**I told you I was evil. Please review! Next chapter: Return of Lex Luthor**_


	6. Brain

_**So sorry for the long wait, I've been busy with school work and my muses went on strike for a little while. Anyways, this is a shorter chapter, but I liked where it ended and knew it would take far too long to write another page, so here you go. Muchos Gracias to Kirsten Erin and Linbug for their reviews on the last chapter! **_**_To anyone reading this, enjoy, and please R&R! Oh, and I finally have Millie's profile up:  
_**

* * *

Name: Millie Knight

Age: 12 year and three months old

Abilities: Highly skilled in acrobatics and stealth, fluent in Spanish, Mandarin, and French. Still In Training.

Hair: Long, straight, and black, poften up in a ponytail.

Eyes: Dark Green

Complexion: Lightly tanned

Height: Average

Build: Slim

Colour scheme: Black, dark green, dark blue, and dark grey

* * *

Lex Luthor attempted in vain to stop the impatient tapping of his right index finger. He had learned time and time again that patience was a virtue, and without it victory would never arise. He needed patience for this plan to succeed. He was dealing with people he could not afford to offend, not matter how much money he had. He must have patience in order to obtain ultimate knowledge, and with it, ultimate power!

The finger kept tapping.

Luthor sighed. Time was money, they said. But money was time, as well, and as Lex was rolling in cash, he also had a lot of time. Empty, so-called "free" time, which irritated him to no end. He couldn't continue to work on other projects, as he had to ready for when the members of the now disbanded League of Shadows he had hired came back: presumably with the girl. Now that child, there was a mystery.

He had discovered her existence in the Daily Planet, of all places, in an article written by the one and only Lois Lane, about a girl in the orphanage who was a certified genius. But not just a genius: she could learn and understand anything she read, or heard, or saw. Her intelligence was amazing, but that wasn't the best part. Luthor had kept a fragment of Brainiac, which had all life and personality traits removed but maintained the massive amounts of knowledge that Brainiac had accumulated. It was built into a supercomputer, which Lex used for all his investigations. It also contained a program, which identified other pieces of Brainiac, and he had done a scan on a DNA sample one of his sources had taken from this genius girl, and somehow, some way, her DNA was infused with some form of Brainiac's technical code.

Which meant she was part Brainiac. _Fascinating…_

He put his thoughts aside as his computer alerted him that two of his hired kidnappers had entered the building, with the girl.

Luthor grinned.

It was all falling into place.

…

Stargirl woke with a pounding head. She didn't want to move; her thoughts were sluggish and her eyelids were heavy.

But someone was insistently prodding her, and she heard voices around her. "Get up, Star, we know you're awake."

_No,_ she thought, _I'm not awake. I'm going back to sleep, just be quiet!_

_You better get up, Star, or I'll kick you hard._

_Yeah right, Alyssa. You do that._

_Or I'll get a song you really hate stuck in your head._

_You don't know what songs I hate._

_I'm a telepath, Star, and either you get up RIGHT NOW or you'll be hearing Rehab by Amy Winehouse in your head for the rest of your life._

"Okay, okay, I'm awake!" Star sat up so fast it seemed she had been launched from a slingshot.

Alyssa was sitting next to her, raising an eyebrow. They were in a two-meter by two-metre windowless concrete box of a room, with Skye leaning on the wall next to the only door and Shay curled up in a ball in the corner. Star was lying on a pile of shopping, which was, despite everything, mostly hers.

"Where are we? What happened?" she asked, looking around frantically. "Is everyone okay?"

"We're alright for now," Skye informed her. "But unfortunately we saw too much and were considered a threat, so are now prisoners of one Lex Luthor, megalomaniac extraordinaire."

"_Luthor?!"_

"Yep. Oh, and Shay's having a bit of a breakdown in the corner, but she'll be fine."

"Let me out…don't like it here…please, let me out…" Shay murmured, rocking back and forth.

"O…kay…"

"She's not overly fond of enclosed spaces," Alyssa explained casually.

"So," Skye asked. "Any idea how to get us out of here?"

"You're asking _her_ that?" smirked the telepath, raising an eyebrow.

"Afraid not," Star replied, ignoring the silver eyed metahuman. "The drugs seem to be suppressing my powers."

"Wait," said Skye suddenly. "Alyssa! You know how you were telling me before, about how your powers aren't limited to telepathy…"

"What?" asked Stargirl, confused.

"Alyssa's telekinetic," Skye explained casually. Alyssa shook her head.

"You don't get it, Skye. Weird stuff happens when I use telekinesis. It could get us out, but it's far more likely to bring the whole building down."

"Who cares? It's Luthor's, isn't it?"

"Star," Skye sighed, subdued. "She means it could bring the whole building down _on top of us._"

"Oh. Right. Back to the drawing board then."

…

Ara Le Roz wasn't stupid. In fact, she was one of the smartest people on the Earth. She knew exactly why Luthor had her locked in titanium steel restraints, with red sun lamps shining down on her pale, lightly freckled face. She had a pretty good idea of how he found out what she was. She was relatively sure he had no idea where she came from.

What she didn't know was what was going to happen to her.

The hired mercenaries, clearly from the League of Assassins, stood in the shadows, tensed and ready for action. Luthor stood in front of her, examining a long black box about ten centimetres in width and eight in height.

He smiled chillingly. It seemed his theory had proven to be correct. But still he had to be certain. There was always a possibility he was wrong.

He opened the lead-lined box and removed a thin kryptonite rod. The girl paled at the sight of it. He brought it forward towards her, and slowly her skin turned from pale and freckled to light emerald green, and her long, light brown hair became blonde. Three white circles emerged on her forehead, forming an inverted triangle.

0 0

0

He was right! He knew it! Some way, somehow, this girl, Ara Le Roz, was part Brainiac…

And part Kryptonian.

Ara winced, pulling as far away as she could from the kryptonite rod. The titanium restraints still kept her close enough to the poisonous gem to continue exposing her Brainiac form. She remained silent, knowing that trying to reason with Luthor would only make him happier, and showing pain would only prolong the torture.

Humans could be so cruel. But she got the impression that this one was merely driven insane by ambition.

"Ara, Ara, Ara," murmured Luthor, smiling cruelly. "What things you will tell me…like how I can finally kill Superman."

…

"How long was I out?" asked Star, trying to think of a plan. _Are we still in Metropolis? _She wondered.

_If I could only control it_, Alyssa mused. _If I could just let a little bit of power out, that door could be smashed to pieces in seconds._

"Well, you were out for about two hours after I woke up," Skye said, sighing. "But since I have no idea how long the rest of us were out, I can't tell if we've been out for hours or weeks. We could be anywhere."

_What was it J'onn said? Was it J'onn? Yes, I think it was. 'Do not let yourself act in anger, or else your powers become a double-edged sword. If you must use anger, mould it, let it harden.'_

"Damn. What are we gonna do about Shay?" Star asked.

_Breath in, breath out. Don't try to force it, just let it flow._

"No idea. Maybe Alyssa can… Alyssa? What's wrong? I mean, besides the fact we're captured by Mr Evil Super Genius himself."

"Skye, I don't think that's it," said Star shakily. "Look at her."

Skye rolled her eyes in irritation. "I'm looking, Star, problem is she's not looking at anything but the wall. Hello? Alyssa? Earth to Alyssa?"

Shay looked up for the first time in hours, eyes wide in shock. "No, I've seen this before. Look at her skin; it's…"

She let the sentence trail off. She didn't need to say anything more; Skye could see it clearly now. Gone was the steely hint behind translucent skin; the telepath's complexion was now opaque, and completely, undeniably…

Silver.

* * *

_**Please Review!**_


	7. Silver

**_Hey all! Very short chapter, but I'll get the next up as soon as possible. Thanks_** _**to all who reviewed, and so sorry this took so long. So, without further ado, on to the story...**_

* * *

Name: Ara Le Roz

Age: 16 and two months

Abilities: Super strength, super intelligence, flight, x-ray vision, heat vision.

Hair: Light brown in human form; ash blonde in Brainiac form.

Eyes: Kryptonian blue

Complexion: Pale and lightly freckled in human form; light emerald green in Brainiac form.

Height: slightly above average

Build: average to slim.

Colour scheme: silver, pale green, pale blue, black.

...

"Batman, Robin, Wonder Woman and Shayera to the monitor room now please. Repeat, Batman, Robin, Wonder Woman and Shayera to the monitor room now."

"What is it, J'onn?" asked Diana anxiously. A mission that required three founders had to be important, and dangerous.

"There has been an explosion on the outskirts of Keystone City." The Martian brought up a satellite image of a building exploding, then zoomed in on the hole in the ceiling. Wonder Woman gasped. "It appears Lex Luthor is behind this plot."

"He's back?" asked Shayera, raising an eyebrow.

"He took his sweet time," commented Robin in a bored tone. Batman glared at him but Lance just ignored him and returned his attention to J'onn.

"It gets worse. The source of the destruction was not any kind of explosive. It was a telekinetic."

"Like Alyssa?" demanded the teen. J'onn nodded. "I think we know where those four disappeared to then."

"But how would Lex Luthor know about them, or even find them? This doesn't seem like a scheme you'd waste ten odd years on, so I'm guessing he just got back from… wherever he was. Unless he was contacted by Cadmus, which I doubt, he couldn't have actually known about them," The Thanagarian pointed out.

"It's _Lex Luthor_," retorted Diana. "He has contacts _everywhere_."

Batman was looking at the screen, typing a few co-ordinates. The image changed to a different shot of the roof, where a green blur was showing. "Computer, zoom in," the dark knight commanded. It took a second while the image was enhanced, but when it was brought up on screen every eye in the room was on it.

"Is that what I think it is?" asked Robin, white slits wide.

"Hera," breathed the Amazon princess.

On the screen before them flickered the image of a Brainiac.

…

_Things have changed since I left,_ mused Luthor. Indeed, it seemed the League had gained some new recruits. Which was why he was now faced with a very pissed off teenage girl with silver skin, and a newly released and (almost) equally irritated Ara Le Roz.

Luckily he had the hired League Of Assassins bodyguards to deal with situations like this. Though truth be told they weren't faring so well.

"So," Ara said casually as she broke a katana in two. "Who are you?"

As the ex-assassin's arm was crushed under an invisible force, the silver skinned girl, wearing a feminine black trench coat over black jeans and a blood red shirt, interrupted Ara's thoughts. _Fight now, introductions later. This may be easy for you, but I can't get into their minds._

Ara was predicting the assassin's moves with relative ease, but her silver skinned ally wasn't faring so well. She was obviously a telekinetic, but she needed to locate her target, and stealth was what the League Of Assassins excelled in. She floated up through the hole in the roof to get a better view of the area.

"Behind you!"

The teen spun around, catching the assassin flying towards her with her powers and threw him (at least, she was pretty sure it was a him) off the roof. Then she noticed where the warning cry had come from; not, as she initially thought, from Shay, who was fighting from the shadows, but from a figure she recognised as Robin. He held an unconscious Shay in his arms, who was teleported away after Batman, who emerged next to his protégé, spoke into his comm. link.

"Alyssa!"

The girl looked around to see where this call came from, when she spotted Wonder Woman and Shayera Hol on the Horizon, coming in fast. Diana got there first, coming to hover opposite the young metahuman.

"Who are these people?" she demanded, indicating the roof, where Ara was in a hand to hand battle with the most direct of the mercenaries. "And when did you learn to fly?"

"That's Ara Le Roz," Alyssa replied quickly, anxious that the Leaguers wouldn't see her newfound ally as an enemy. "Luthor kidnapped her. The guy fighting her and two others, he hired them. The used to be from something called… The Assassins' League, maybe?"

"League of Assassins," corrected Shayera, who had finally caught up. "Where are the others?"

"Skye's trying to hack Luthor's database," the silver skinned girl replied, lowering her voice. "Star's with her in case someone in Luthor's staff takes an objection to it. Shay just got teleported back to the Watchtower."

"Is she hurt?" Diana asked anxiously. Alyssa shook her head.

"Don't think so, just unconscious. Anyway, J'onn will help her."

Now it was Shayera's turn to shake her head. "Mister Terrific's manning the teleports. J'onn here with us."

"Here? But he almost never comes–Ow!"

The Assassin's sword drove into Alyssa's back, causing her to cry out in pain. It didn't get too far, as Shayera swatted him away with her mace, but it was too late to save the young metahuman from the force behind the blow. Her vision grew tunnelled and she dropped from the air.

...

A crowd had gathered outside the LexCorp owned building, and they watched the silver metahuman fall from the sky. Wonder Woman swooped down and caught the girl, while Martian Manhunter emerged from the building, where he'd been checking on Skye and Star, to attack the offending ex-assassin. Few could see the fight in depth, but there was one thing for sure: that was one man who would never lay a finger on the telepathic teen ever again.

Wonder Woman floated down to the ground, away from the fight, to examine the extent of Alyssa's injuries. The crowd then saw that the girl was not wearing some form of silver armour or costume, but actually had metallic coloured skin. This surprised some, but many more were disgusted. Some boys at the front started yelling "Freak! Freak!" and the crowd quickly took up the chant.

Diana took enough time from checking the young girl's injuries to glare at the group with such pure venom that they all fell silent. But when the Amazon flew up to hand Alyssa to her Martian mentor, they started calling it again, and it progressed to, "Martians go home!" as J'onn, pointedly ignoring them, requested transport for him, Alyssa, Skye and Stargirl. The two girls glared at the crowd from behind their hair, which they'd brushed into their faces to protect their identities. J'onn silently thanked a Martian god that Alyssa wasn't awake to hear this.

Little did anyone know, she could hear every word.

And she'd never forget them.

* * *

_**Again, sorry for the really short chapter, but Please Review!**_

_**I also need to figure out Alyssa's hero name before I can post the next chapter ( which I really really want to), so see the poll on my profile or PM me with votes or suggestions!**_

_**Also, here's a clue for the next chapter, as a prezzie for being patient with me: What's Le Roz spelt backwards? Find out next time...  
**_


	8. ThirtyFirst Century Girl

_**Hey All! I had to split this in half because not enough people have voted for me to figure out Alyssa's hero name yet, so this is a short update. Please vote! The poll is on my profile. For now, here's the chapter...  
**_

_**Disclaimer: The Justice League aren't mine. Neither are their villains, or the cities they protect. Alyssa, Jay, Katelin, Shay/Alexandra, the second Trinity, Ara Le Roz, Skye Olsen, Lance and Millie Knight, (and some others) and the plot are mine. Other than that, nada.  
**_

* * *

"It's not much, but it's home," the woman who had introduced herself as Diana Prince, but Shay knew to be Wonder Woman, declared as they entered the large apartment. "Your room's up the hall, to the right. What would you like me to call you?" The brown haired history professor asked.

"Just Alexa is fine," Shay said, giving the name she had chosen earlier, _Shay_ being slightly unusual. She marvelled at the disguise that the Amazon Princess wore. Her hair was light brown and pulled back in a sensible ponytail; her skin was slightly freckled. She wore wire-framed glasses over chocolate brown eyes, and when her eyebrows furrowed they looked more fierce than innocent. There were other slight imperfections: a scar on her pinkie finger, more freckles on her arms, slightly chewed fingernails. Judging by the looks some of the male residents gave her, Professor Diana Prince was still highly attractive, but in a smart, independent, bossy way. In short, she made a very intimidating human.

"Well, Alexa, your room is just down there, to the right," the professor said, indicating. "I hope you'll be happy here."

'Alexa' nodded and practically ran from the room. Who knew Diana could be so downright scary?

As Shay entered her room, she went over her cover story in her head. She was the daughter of Diana Prince and Blake Middleton, who were married until she, 'Alexandra Middleton', was seven, when they split up and Blake, who was a divorce lawyer, got full custody over his daughter. They moved away from Diana, to England. When 'Alexandra' was eleven, her father died of liver disease and she was passed from relative to relative, until social security finally found her mother and declared her 'Alexandra's' rightful guardian.

So now she was moving in with Diana, after living for half a year with her intimidating and obnoxious 'Uncle Bartimaeus', who she had a sneaking feeling was based on Batman.

Shay thought her cover story was pretty extensive, but then Diana's past was also entirely fabricated, so they could extend themselves a little. Other cover stories were simple and aided by a bit of memory manipulation by the Martian Manhunter. Leila became Ice's sister, the Flash's alter ego adopted Jay. Katelin was probably going to go to a couple who had raised one, it was not specified which, of the Founding Seven. Shay couldn't remember most of the others, but a good deal of the League's alter egos had suddenly acquired a teenage relative. Thank god for telepathy, thought 'Alexa', or any idiot could figure this one out.

The room that was made for Alexandra Prince had light blue walls, and the door and window frame were white. Shay looked out the window. Diana lived in Metropolis and her 'daughter' could see the golden globe of the Daily Planet offices from her room.

"Hera, Shay, you look terrified," came an amused voice from behind her. She turned to see Wonder Woman, still in her Diana Prince guise, but laughing her head off.

Shay frowned. "It's not my fault. Diana Prince is scary. Not someone I'd like to meet in a dark alley."

Diana kept laughing. "You got out of that room faster than the Flash when Batman glares at him," she giggled. She was practically on her knees laughing. "I'm… I'm not… that scary, am I?" she finally choked out. Shay thought back to how intimidating Diana had been a few minutes ago, and started laughing herself.

Maybe everything would be alright.

…

"What is your name?"

"Ara Le Roz."

"Truth," J'onn confirmed. Batman raised an eyebrow.

"Do you have any other names?"

"Yes."

"Truth."

"What are they?"

"I am sometimes called Brainiac 5.1. My mother's last name is Zor-El."

"Truth."

"Zor-El?"

"Yes."

"Truth."

"Is your mother Kara Zor-El of Krypton?"

"Yes."

"Truth."

_Oh dear,_ thought Green Lantern. _Clark is not going to like this._

"Do you come from the thirty first century?" Green Arrow broke in. Ara, who was sitting calmly behind an interrogation table, turned to him.

"Yes."

"Truth."

"When were you sent here? At what age?" asked Batman, glaring at Arrow, who ignored him.

"Seven months."

"Truth."

"You can remember back that far?" Arrow interrupted again.

"I can remember being born," the Kryptonian Brainiac admitted, earning raised eyebrows from the two 'Green' heroes in the room.

"Truth," intoned J'onn, a tad unnecessarily.

"So let's recap," said Arrow conversationally, "You were sent here from the thirty-first century – by your mother?" he asked, suddenly unsure. Ara raised an eyebrow ever so slightly.

"It was both my parents' decision," she said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Then added, anticipating his question, "My father is Brainiac 5."

While outwardly she appeared patient and calm, Ara was internally irritated beyond belief. Though she knew they would deem such an examination necessary, she was bored and pissed off and was sick and tired of being logical and straightforward. The Martian couldn't enter her mind, as her extreme intellect and telepathic defences would block his ability. Still, he could sense the veracity of her words, and so she could go through this incessant barrage of questions.

The interrogation did go on for hours, Ara getting more and more irritated as each question was asked; but when it came to why she was sent back, she became calm and logical again.

"I must find the second Trinity," Ara stated bluntly. Batman raised an eyebrow as J'onn confirmed the veracity of her statement.

"The _second_ Trinity?" the Dark Knight asked. Ara nodded.

"That is what I was told. The problem is that their identities have been erased from my memory banks."

"Erased?" asked Arrow. "How?"

"By a virus. It was meant to destroy all information on every server in the United Planets, but my biological structure prevented it from destroying everything but the source information, what it was seeking to destroy. The rest was just a cover. This is why I am searching for the Second Trinity. But there are many possibilities."

"Who were the first Trinity?" Superman asked, still unnerved by the fact that this was his cousin's daughter. He had been asked to take over for Green Lantern an hour earlier, while Green Arrow refused to leave. He didn't want Superman 'losing his nut', he'd said.

"You, of course. You, Batman and the Princess of Themyscira."

"If they're the _first_ Trinity, then why were you sent back to this time?" Green Arrow asked cynically, expecting she had been sent to the wrong time zone.

"I believe that I was sent back so I would be a similar age to Trinity II. As I mentioned, there are many possibilities."

The heroes exchanged looks. "And we just got, what, thirty odd metahumans around her age?" whispered Arrow.

"Thirty-nine," corrected Batman. "Also, Robin's their age. Millie too, at a stretch."

"Don't forget Skye," added Superman, frowning. "She may not be a hero yet, but she's definitely got the potential." Suddenly, something occurred to him, "What if the second trinity are _villains?_"

"They are allies of the Justice League," Ara, who could hear their whole conversation, reassured them. "_Not_ the Justice Lords, " she added, reading her uncle's expression.

J'onn nodded, verifying her honesty, and the Kryptonian visibly relaxed. "Perhaps," ventured the Martian, "We should end the questioning now." Batman nodded. They'd gone through hundreds of questions by now and from what they'd discovered, Ara meant them no harm.

As J'onn left the interrogation room, Clark reached out and gripped his shoulder.

"Thankyou, J'onn, for being here. I know how worried you are about Alyssa." J'onn nodded, then turned, heading in the direction of the med-bay. "Oh, and J'onn?"

The Martian turned back around to see Clark grinning at something he'd just heard. "Yes?"

"They're saying she's going to be fine," the Kansas farm boy replied. "She hasn't woken up yet, but that's just exhaustion."

"She'd better wake up soon," Stargirl interrupted, emerging from a room. "Alyssa's on the news."

* * *

_**Please Review!**** And vote!**_


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